Gator snatches family dog at Florida park

A family dog was snatched and killed by an alligator during the weekend when it ran from its owner to chase a rabbit.

Sue Fortenbery told WFTS she was walking with her grandson and her 1-year-old Jack Russell, named Bolt, over the weekend in Pinellas County when Bolt ran off to chase a rabbit. The next thing she could hear was his yelping after he went through a hole in the fence and into the waterway at the preserve.

“The screams is what you can't stop hearing, the yelping," she told WFTS.

There are several openings on the trail, and Fortenbery said those openings are what led to Bolt being taken away by the alligator.

"If the fence wasn't open like this, he couldn't have gone through and the gator couldn't have got him," she said.

Fortenbery told WFTS that she is upset with Pinellas County officials after they told her they wouldn’t remove the gator but would keep an eye on the area. At the moment, the gator is not considered a nuisance “because they had no other complaints” and a better description of the animal would be needed.

WFTS reports the county has yet to survey the area and is asking the public to contact the Parks Department if the gator shows up again.